My commentary on; Twenge, Jean M. “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 19 Mar. 2018, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/.
In the article “Have smartphones destroyed a generation” the author discusses his observations of a young teenage girl which he refers to as “Athena” in the article as well as her generational group. He refers to this group as “igen” which I personally perceived as quite humorous in the corniest dad joke way possible. In the text he discusses issues regarding how her, as well as her generational group “igen”, decide to utilize their time spent on their devices. In the text it says. “The impact of these devices has not been fully appreciated, and goes far beyond the usual concerns about curtailed attention spans. The arrival of the smartphone has radically changed every aspect of teenagers’ lives, from the nature of their social interactions to their mental health.”
To be entirely honest I am not too sure how I feel about that statement due to my personal observations of the variety of individuals that coexist in today’s society. I work primarily with adults within the Generation X category ( 1961 – 1980) and a sprinkle of millennial’s ( 1980 – 1996). Believe it or not the millennial’s, in addition to myself who fall within the generational group most commonly identified as “Gen Z” or “igen” appear to be less distracted by today’s modern technology than generation X.
This actually came to my attention quite recently. I was talking to my fellow Gen X coworkers, and I noticed how frequently their attention spans would divert and how urged they were to pick up their devices to begin scrolling on their feeds while attempting to simultaneously remain focused in the conversation. Now you may be thinking , What if the topic of discussion was simply… not that interesting? That was most certainly not the case in this particular occasion. The irony of all this is that the topic of discussion actually derived from how incapable people are of living in the present moment, in the physical world; without getting distracted by the devices in which allow them to access virtual reality. One coworker in the discussion even said to me “alright alright, Ill try to stop using my phone, It’s just so addicting.” He put the phone down and brushed his hands clean as if he had just accomplished something and within a matter of a few seconds his phone was back in his phone junkie hands. My response to this was. “You adults always have something to say about today’s youth and their excessive phone usage but you guys are just as bad if not twice as more.” They all laughed and admitted to their inability to remain focused without being distracted by what better things could be possibly occurring on the internet.
For one to state that only “igen” as well as the other younger generations are the only groups contributing to this unfortunate modern day reality, is just as bad as a parent going into a candy shop and pretending as though their purchasing candy for their child when really their prerogative was to purchase the candy for personal indulgence and happiness post devouring. Any person who has social media and spends a good chunk of time using it contributes to the statement “destruction of a generation”. Regardless of age or generation, we are all held responsible for changing times and this increase of humans spending more time on their phones than in real life itself.
Don’t be like Twenge and try to pass the flaming hot torch to every other generation but yours. Like I stated earlier; we all have the potential to contribute to this problem we have in society, simply because majority of today’s population has a smartphone.
However, I do most certainly agree with Twenge’s input on the psychologically damaging abilities that come with frequent phone usage and social media. As I begin to approach my final year of being a teenager. I reflect on how much my mental health has improved from the earlier stages of my teenage years in comparison to now. I remember being young and feeding my mind with nothing but social media and societies perception of what individuals should be like, look like and act like. I too became trapped in this false reality. At age 16, I finally came to the realization that I needed to escape…. I turn 19 later this year, so this marks year three of being social media free. The purpose of childhood as well as your teenage years should consist of nothing more than self navigation, understanding, growth and perspective. Older generations have done this in a way much different from generations now. Back then people actually ventured out into the real world to gain perspective and insight but, growing up in a time like today people are forced to find themselves by realizing that this virtual world that many of us live in is furthest from what’s actually real.
The only real way to discover what’s true is by freeing yourself and doing something other than what society has instructed people to do. If you’re reading this and you’re feeling guilty or maybe even a little bit inspired by this article, then I challenge you. Take a social media fast, explore the real world and see what it has to offer. I assure you that you will find a lot more about yourself than you could ever find spending excessive time on social media through this challenge.
The NKD Truth 